Rituals as basic social acts : Testing the relationship between collective rituals and norm objectivity

CHVAJA, Radim. Rituals as basic social acts : Testing the relationship between collective rituals and norm objectivity. In ISORECEA conference: Religion on the Periphery, online, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 15 –17 April 2021. 2021.

Basic information

• Original name: Rituals as basic social acts : Testing the relationship between collective rituals and norm objectivity
• Authors: CHVAJA, Radim.
• Edition: ISORECEA conference: Religion on the Periphery, online, Olomouc, Czech Republic, 15 –17 April 2021, 2021.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords (in Czech): rituál; morálka; kooperace; objektivita norem; Rappaport; morální psychologie
• Keywords in English: ritual; morals; cooperation; norm objectivity; Rappaport; moral psychology
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The perception of moral norms as objectively existing is a widespread feature of human cognition. Although various aspects of religious systems were suggested to enhance the objectivity of moral norms (e.g., belief in moralizing gods), the crucial role of ritual in the process has been neglected. Following Rappaport, we identify three characteristic features of ritual form - materialization, invariance, and digitalization, and investigate their role in promoting norm objectivity. In this talk, I will present results of 4 correlational (N = 977 in total) and one experimental study (in process) conducted on 3 populations which were designed to test the basic prediction of our theory that the frequency of collective religious rituals should be associated with perceived norm objectivity. Across these studies, we found that the more people attend collective rituals, the more they believed that moral norms are existing independently of space, time and humans. In the experiment, participants will write about their rituals in the experimental condition and about their ordinary day in work in control condition. Based on the theory and correlational results, we predict that writing about ritual will lead to more objective perceptions of moral norms.